² “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an ^(A)unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and ^(B)on which a yoke has never ^[a]been placed.

³ It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; ⁴ and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.